sea food experiments continue

For a while now I have been seeing sea urchins (fr: oursins) at the market and wondered how would one prepare and eat them. I asked Catherine about them one day and she explained that no preparation was necessary; you just cut them open, scoop out the bright orange pulp and voila. She also used a number of superlatives to describe how wonderfully they taste.  Emilia overheard it and being the foodie that she is insisted that we buy them. Anne was visiting that week and that made for a good occasion to try them.

I should have been suspicious that while they were no longer available at my favourite fish monger at the market they were still lying on ice in the fish store on our street. I would not use any of the adjectives that Catherine used to describe them. They tasted very, very strong and not at all sweet and buttery as the internet described them. Though we did not get sick, later I read that when not fresh sea urchins can taste vile. Surprisingly Emilia took quite the liking to them! go figure!

Special of the day at the market

Would you like some étoile de mer with your Turbot? :)

This little guy was just sitting there and I had to touch it to make sure it was alive. It was! Did I mention I love my fishmonger?

Fish 101

I know there will be plenty of things we will miss once we go back to Montreal, some of which we probably don't even know now, but the one thing I KNOW I will miss, and probably miss the most, is my fishmonger. Every Wednesday and Saturday at any point of the day at least 15 people will be lined up by his market stand. The fish is simply beautiful, and so fresh that you won't register even the faintest 'fishy' smell no matter how close you stick your nose to it. One time I asked Stéphan where a certain fish was from and he told me the name of the boat that caught it! Yes, I will miss this guy and his fish the most.

Sole has been in season for the past few weeks so I finally decided to try it. I asked for it to be prepared 'en filet'. When I brought it home I opened the wrapping to marvel at my beautiful fish before putting it back in a fridge and... I stared with puzzlement. Back at me stared two orange, intestine looking pieces.

I know that they would not give me anything I shouldn't be eating but what the heck was that??? So I did what Emilia always tells me to do whenever I don't have an answer to her questions, "ask googel". My search for 'weird orange things sole fillet' did not produce any answers. I tried to search for images of sole fillet - nothing, I tried YouTube videos for 'cleaning sole fish' and though I could see on some videos the "weird orange things" they were always discarded and not mentioned. And finally one link mentioned it: "When the fish is caught in the appropriate season a roe sack becomes visible on removing the lower fillets which lie over the abdominal cavity. (...) Do not throw away - one can make it into a delicious appetizer." 

I have found my answer! Apparently this is considered a delicacy in Europe... Now back to 'googel' to find ways of preparing these roe sacks!

picasso in the making

We have started to watch the Harry Potter movies with the girls this Christmas. We decided that the first two movies would be age appropriate for them and for the rest they will have to wait a few more years. It was an instant hit!  'ermione became a constant companion of Camille, they do everything together. Camille also 'packs' her magic wand and cape every morning for school these days. Naturally, colouring being Camille's second favourite thing to do besides playing with imaginary friends, she asked for some colouring pages of 'ermione. After a few short minutes, crying came from the colouring table area. "Chciałam jej narysować rękę ale już nie lubię."*

* "I wanted to draw her arm but I don't like it anymore"